


the universe in tiny stories

by kaminagi



Category: Inception (2010)
Genre: 3 Sentence Ficathon, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-04-27
Updated: 2018-01-30
Packaged: 2018-06-04 10:11:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 536
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6653758
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kaminagi/pseuds/kaminagi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Why is it so important to dream?"  Because there are things they discover only when dreaming.</p><p>Originally for <a href="http://caramelsilver.livejournal.com">caramelsilver</a>'s 3 sentence ficathon.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. out of time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For the prompt: _[Any science fiction, any, out of time](http://caramelsilver.livejournal.com/150194.html?thread=4772274#t4772274)_.

They can hear it, the strains of Edith Piaf's voice filtering through the layers of the dream, distorted like sound in water, as the world begins to tilt.

Ariadne hates this feeling most of all, the sense of crumbling instability, and the sudden rush of time decompressing far too fast, and how she feels like she is endlessly falling.

It's probably why Arthur kisses her now ( _every time_ ) and grips her hands tight, to give her ( _them_ ) something solid to hold onto until they wake again.


	2. every heart is a package / tangled up in knots someone else has tied

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For the prompt: _[Any fandom or original, any characters or pairings, Every heart is a package / Tangled up in knots someone else tied](http://caramelsilver.livejournal.com/150194.html?thread=4900274#t4900274)_

Arthur is very careful to keep his feelings to himself, all twisted in a snarled and tightly bound mess, until it's brutally cut like the Gordian knot.

So it's rather unnerving when Ariadne finds his parcel of secrets in a dream and begins undoing the knots like her namesake unraveled the secrets of the labyrinth.

But he appreciates the gentle way she opens the box and quietly smiles at its contents, and thinks to himself that there's no one else he'd rather have unpicking the tangles surrounding his heart.


	3. salvage

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For the prompt: _[Any fandom (or original), any characters or pairings, salvage](http://caramelsilver.livejournal.com/150194.html?thread=4961458#t4961458)_

"There's nothing here for you," Arthur says, bewildered when she finds him at the shores of decaying memory, desperately grasping a red thread that he has been too afraid to follow and too afraid to let go, "why are you here?"

"I'm the architect," Ariadne whispers, and he sees that she is not here to build from nothing and raze it to the ground, but to salvage, to save him from sinking into a sea of void.

And when she hauls them to the surface from the waves of ruin, with the red thread tightly bound around their wrists, he knows at last that she will always pull him from his doom.


	4. a shop that wasn't there yesterday

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For the prompt: _[Any, any, a shop that wasn't there yesterday](http://caramelsilver.livejournal.com/151259.html?thread=5392603#t5392603)_.

"Very clever," Arthur admits, quietly impressed that she's pulled off something so bold and delicate at the same time.

"It's not everyday that you miss an entire building that wasn't in the original plan," Ariadne responds, trying not to grin, "not like you at all, thought I would have been torn to pieces by now."

"Only when I'm with you," he murmurs, and pretends not to notice her blush when he twines their fingers together.


	5. trickster

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For the prompt: _[Any, any, trickster](http://caramelsilver.livejournal.com/151259.html?thread=5395163#t5395163)_.

The first time was a trick (it was also in a dream, so they don't talk about it and she still pretends she's _mildly_ annoyed about it).

So Arthur doesn't think twice when Ariadne asks him to bend down one day and she presses her lips against his.

"Gotcha," she smirks, pleased at how faintly _awestruck_ he looks (because he's not the only one who knows how to steal a kiss).


	6. the sound of silver bells

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For the prompt: _[Any, any, the sound of silver bells](http://caramelsilver.livejournal.com/151259.html?thread=5392859#t5392859)_.

Ariadne can hear it, a clear and pure sound, cutting through a cacophony of traffic and people and thunder all around her, and it seems impossible that no one else has noticed, so she turns every which way until her eyes find Arthur, smirking at her from under an umbrella across the plaza.

"New musical cue for the kick?" she asks, as the dream fades away from them and they wake in reality to the sound of bells and soft rainfall.

"No, your new alarm clock," he says, and just laughs and kisses her when she tries to punch him for his insolence.


End file.
